Much of what is listed was true for me. Our first TV was in 1960 and we did not have a phone in the house. To make a 3 minute call to my brother who lived in Washington DC, we went to a phone booth late at night so the traffic noise wasn't so bad and deposited several dollars worth of coins into the slots on the phone and then all three of us crammed into so we could close the door. After three minutes the operator would interrupt and ask for more money. I was too young to remember the Korean war but I remember "Ike" being elected President.

I was born in 1941. There was Little League, I wanted to play, but my parents wouldn't let me. I think it was too much of a commitment of their time. my memories of WWII were limited to standing in line and buying my own toilet paper which the Ralphs market limited the amount you could buy. We also drove from Westwood (LA) over to a farm in the San Fernando Valley to buy chickens (without ration tickets.) I often sat in front of the radio listening to Sky King while eating my dinner. I watched TV at my friends house for a long time before my parents finally bought one.

I was raised on the edge of the city limits which would be called suburbs today and the streets were gravel.

The truck farmers would drive the streets ringing their bell for folks to come out and buy produce.

Eggs, butter, and milk were delivered to our homes.

There were fellows who would push their carts on the streets calling out to sharpen knives and scissors.

There were homes that had confectionaries where one could buy basic needs and penny candy like wax lips.

The Fuller Brush Man would go door to door selling their goods.

We would ride in "City Cars" which were large four-door sedans with fold-out jumper seats as a form of today's taxi.

Mills were given out as percentages of a penny in your change.

We would get "stamps" based on the value of purchases to collect in books to redeem when filled. I can still taste the glue as it was my job to lick and put them in the books.

The shoe store had fluoroscopes where we could see how the shoes fit our little feet (perhaps that's why I'm bald today).

The doctor's offices reeked of the odor of rubbing alcohol. Syringes were glass and the needles were dull from all of the times they were used. I would get a cherry-flavored lollypop at each visit.

Dentists would pull teeth rather than fill them and many dentists worked out of their homes.

Going the e-mail rounds.

I am definitely one!




Subject: 1% ers - Hard to believe but this includes many of us.


99% of those born between 1930 and 1946 (worldwide) are now dead.

If you were born in this time span, you are one of the rare surviving one percenters of this special group.

Their ages range is between 77 and 93 years old, a 16-year age span.

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE 1% ERS:

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900's.

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

Discipline was enforced by parents and teachers.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.

With no TV, you spent your childhood "playing outside".

There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

We got “black-and-white” TV in the late 40s that had 3 stations and no remote.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.

'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening (your dad would give you the comic pages when he read the news).

New highways would bring jobs and mobility. Most highways were 2 lanes (no interstates).

You went downtown to shop. You walked to school.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into working hard to make a living for their families.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves.

You felt secure in your future, although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler. Everyone knew someone who had it.

You came of age in the '50s and '60s.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

World War 2 was over, and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life.

Only your generation can remember a time after WW2 when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better.

More than 99% of you are retired now, and you should feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

If you have already reached the age of 77 years old, you have outlived 99% of all the other people in the world who were born in this special

16 year time span. You are a 1% 'er"!